Sire
By KnightMare
"There is a ritual that older stronger vampires do to show how strong their blood is." Angel was reporting and Willow watched him carefully, not wanting to miss anything. "It's called a Chaining, and what they do is turn several vampires in a row. The stronger those vampires come out, the number vampires that actually rise, show how potent the Master's blood is." Angel looked right at Willow. "There are three levels of vampires that rise, Childer are the strongest, then there are Minions which are the majority of all vampires in Sunnydale, and then as the blood gets weaker with each turning there are the Pets, the weakest of all vampires. They don't even call them vampires and those don't live long without a Sire because they are so weak." Willow felt a wave of pity for the weak vampires, but she just glanced around to the others while Angel continued. "VampWillow did a Chaining while she was here, to prove her blood. There were seven, which is very ambitious for such a young vampire. It would have been ambitious for a Master."
"You mean there are four more out there?" Buffy interrupted.
"There might not be four left." Angel shook his head. "If they're weak the regular nightlife of Sunnydale will take care of them."
"Darwinism Vampire style." Willow muttered, and it bothered her to think of this.
"Exactly." Angel gave Willow a weak smile. "But there is a good chance that not all rose. I'll keep an ear out, but for now it might be a good idea if Willow didn't patrol with Buffy for a little while. VampWillow didn't endear herself to her Childer."
"Yes, Willow, it would be best if you didn't patrol with Buffy, at least for now." Giles spoke up.
Willow just nodded as she struggled with the idea of these vampires existing.
"This Chaining is something I have heard of. There may be something in my books." Giles' voice was clearly an invitation to research. "The more we know the better able Buffy will be to deal with this."
"It isn't like it's hard." Xander spoke up. "Angel said these were these vamps are the Kmart blue special version. We could just sit back and wait for the blood suckers to kill them for us."
"They weren't all weak Xan." Buffy didn't look at Willow and Willow could feel the tension. "Some of VampWill's clan are Childer, and I only saw a Pet and two Minions. Out there is at least one stronger one, isn't there Angel?"
"I doubt that VampWillow's blood was too weak to make at least one." Angel's announcement was weary, "And they'll be drawn to Willow."
…………………….
Kristin hugged herself as she wandered the darkened streets, her stomach cramping from the hunger. She really should have tried to hunt yesterday, but she'd stayed near Willow's house for most of the night before seeking shelter for the day, hoping that her sire would sense her and call her inside. That never happened.
Her eyes swept over the streets searching for someone walking alone. When she noticed a young girl Kristin crossed the street to try and intercept. Her body tensed as she imagined finally eating, she was so hungry. Her teeth ached as they started to descend, but Kristin kept her human face and looked up at the girl. Her own feet slowed as she looked into a much younger face than she'd expected. She noticed the woman was actually a young girl.
When the girl nodded at her with a slightly nervous smile Kristin moved to the side and watched as the girl walked past. She'd planned to follow and then pull the girl into the alley, but Kristin stood staring after the girl for a little too long. "too small." She whispered to herself. "Kid, go home, it's not safe after dark." She yelled out bitterly and turned to walk further. Her stomach screaming at her for passing that one up. "I'll find something bigger." She told herself as she continued down the street.
It was a little after two when Kristin noticed the man leaving the bar, and how he swayed on his feet. She started to walk faster to catch up with him. This time she was going to do it, she told herself as she came up behind him. He was so unsteady Kristin wondered what it would do to his blood, but she wasn't able to be picky now.
Kristin grabbed him tightly and yanked his head to the side. Her face morphed and she bit savagely into his neck, the taste of blood making her body sing. Yes, hungry, she sucked hard at the struggling man's neck.
"That's mine." A cold voice spoke and Kristin ignored it, until something grabbed her hair and pulled her head away. "You heard me bitch, that's mine." Kristin turned to see a large male vamp staring at her. "Go get your own."
"This is mine." Kristin growled and hugged the human to her body. He struggled and it was hard to hold him still.
The male vamp shook his head and suddenly Kristin was yanked away from her prey. She'd looked all night for that. She screamed in frustration as the male bit her prey, and she started to get up to stop him.
"Don't do that." Another voice spoke and Kristin noticed the others. She could feel they were like her only the power radiated more strongly in them. "You're a Pet and Pet's only get leftovers." A man who must have been a biker before he was turned snarled at her.
"Pets have to earn their left overs." Another vamp smiled wickedly and Kristin took a step back, suddenly more afraid than angry. She turned to run. "Get Her!" Someone yelled and Kristin pushed herself harder to escape. She was slammed to the ground viciously and tried to defend herself from the hands tearing at her.
"No!" Kristin screamed, but no one ever noticed anyone screaming in Sunnydale.
……………..
Willow groaned as she woke up and heard the remote control fall to the floor. She shifted carefully on the couch so she didn't fall off and considered all the reasons falling asleep to old movies was bad, mostly related to how her back felt when she woke up on the couch. A soft thud at the front door had her listening hard and Willow got up, glancing out the window and noticing it was almost dawn, a little late for Buffy.
Another thud had Willow hesitantly moving to the door. Looking out the window she saw a crumpled form on her porch. "Oh God, Buffy." Willow moved to open the door quickly, reaching down to check on her friend, when she noticed brown hair and not blonde.
"Sire, help me." A tearful voice pleaded. "Help me, please, help me." Willow felt her blood freeze and she stepped back into the house so that the vampire couldn't touch her.
The vampire didn't try. Willow stared at the growing puddle of blood and the dark bruises and torn clothes and her eyes widened at the abuse this female appeared to have gone through. "Please Sire." The voice was soft and hurt and Willow felt tears in her eyes as she took a hesitant step back out onto the porch to carefully turn the vampire, who didn't have the strength to stop her and Willow stared into scared yellow eyes. Willow's eyes trailed over the ripped shirt and the blood and knew, just knew that Darwinism in the vampire world was alive and well and this poor creature was the latest victim. "Help."
The sun was about to rise and Willow nibbled on her lip as she considered that all she'd have to do was go inside and this vampire would just die on her own when the sun hit the porch. "Oh man, this is such a mistake." Willow muttered to herself as she reached down to gently grip the female under the arms. "come in." She uttered her invitation as she pulled the vampire into her house. The vampire in question passed out on her before she got her inside.
